The “Bolero rhythm,” a triplet-infused rhythm pattern derived from Maurice Ravel’s _Boléro_, appears in a number of rock music singles beginning in the late 1960’s. Although Ravel’s highly recognizable pattern is commonly quoted in many genres of popular music, the Bolero rhythm takes on added significance in the realm of hard rock: it acts as a symbolic musical topic that represents military fanfare. In this paper, I provide a brief history of the Bolero rhythm topic as it appears in rock recordings, and I explore the features that characterize this topic—triplet patterns, a featured snare drum, and a unison “riff”—as it is frequently heard in a rock context.